Chapter 620: Burning Camp!
Flames arose from various parts of the Manchurian camp. Soldiers were burnt to crisp amidst their pitiful wails and screams. A number of soldiers managed to escape and were running amok in the camp.
When the soldiers heard Yue Zhong's shout and saw the huge flames consuming the large gold tent, they were all shocked out of their wits, and the camp was plunged into chaos. Many fled in different directions.
"Do it!!!" Bai Xiao Sheng heard the commotion and the shouts of Yue Zhong and his eyes flashed with a cold light as he led the elites under him towards the camp.
The various snipers within the elite team pulled out their weapons and began sniping the Manchurian soldiers.
Peng! Peng!
Following the sounds of gunfire, a number of sentries had their heads blasted into bits and pieces.
Bai Xiao Sheng charged towards the camp with a speed not losing out to Lightning. The blades in his hands swiftly sliced through the various defences, and made his way in.
At this time, the entire Manchurian camp was burning and the soldiers were panicking. They were easily dispatched by Bai Xiao Sheng and his team.
Xuan Zhen leaped out of the burning tent, into the skies with a huge amount of bronze-greenish Dou Qi, as he roared, "This Emperor is right here! This Emperor is not dead!!!"
The earth shook, as a large earth pillar shot towards the skies. After raising about 10 meters, it opened up to reveal Ao Dou and Bao-Er Tao within.
Ao Dou shouted loudly, "We're fine! Everyone, heed my command! Don't panic! Regroup and get in your formations!"
Under Xuan Zhen and Ao Dou's enraged shouts, the entire Manchurian camp heard their words. However, it was burning badly everywhere. All the soldiers were still panicking and no one could remain calm.
Hong! Hong!
Yue Zhong's Devil Flame managed to consume a particular storage that housed ammunition and explosives, causing it to instantly blow up.
Xuan Zhen watched with horror and screamed out in fury, "Damn bastard!!! Damn bastard!!! Yue Zhong, I want your corpse to be dismembered!!! I will definitely tear you apart!!!"
Those explosives and ammunition were the precious resources of Xuan Zhen. As the army was backward, they could only manually reload those spent bullets and scrap together a few new ones. These supplies were purely from the past and the storage itself housed over 70% of the Manchurians' supplies. Now that Yue Zhong had destroyed them, his Howitzers were basically useless.
After he roared out with fury, he began chasing after Yue Zhong together with Ao Dou and Bao-Er Tai.
A number of White Armor experts swiftly flocked around Xuan Zhen and his team, forming a fearsome squad.
Yue Zhong did not seem to care about Xuan Zhen as he kept on firing his Devil Flame everywhere, burning through the supplies. Each time he come across a soldier, he would just slaughter the unfortunate soldier instantly. The entire Manchurian camp had been turned upside down because of him.
One White Armor soldier was giving chase when suddenly, a blade noiselessly sliced through his heart from a dark corner.
The soldier heaved his last breath and fell down in silence while the blade disappeared.
Tenpyo Saka watched the fallen White Armor soldier, silently vanishing into the night to search for a worthy prey. She loved to assassinate powerful experts. Each time she killed one, there was a sense of achievement and superiority.
Xuan Zhen and the rest continued to give chase to Yue Zhong. Although they were beyond being enraged, they were basically helpless.
Ao Dou immediately proposed, "My Liege! This cannot go on! If we continue to chase him, we'll only be led around by the nose. I feel that we should focus on settling the camp down and regroup the soldiers to deal with the invaders!"
Xuan Zhen seemed to snap out of his blind rage and gritted his teeth to say, "Fine!"
Once they had collected themselves, they swiftly began to reorganize their troops. There were many elite soldiers in this camp site and although many had been slain under the sudden attacks of Yue Zhong, Bai Xiao Sheng and his team, the rest managed to be gathered by their commanders and reformed their squads to launch a counter attack. Under Xuan Zhen's orders, these squads formed into a large battalion.
The moment these elites were gathered, Bai Xiao Sheng and the rest would not stand a chance.
"Disperse!" Bai Xiao Sheng judged the battlefield and gave the order to retreat. If they forced their way through, there was a chance to kill another 500 soldiers with his team. However, his own team would have to pay a hefty price. Therefore, he chose to retreat.
Under Bai Xiao Sheng's orders, all those elites who had been following Yue Zhong hurried away from the camp. They were the strongest in sudden attacks, night raids and assassinations. Forcefully battling out was not something they could or should do.
Compared to the zombies with lack of intelligence, a thousand soldiers were still more than a feat for 100 Evolvers.
The moment the Manchurian forces regrouped, they went to defend the granary. Should the granary be destroyed, then their hopes would be dashed as well. They wouldn't even have enough for the journey back.
The Manchurian troops guarded the granary tightly, with numerous White Armor soldiers stationed everywhere. Even Ao Dou, Xuan Zhen and Bao-Er Tai were standing guard in case Yue Zhong came.
"Do you think that I'll be helpless like that?" Yue Zhong stared at the granary and chuckled coldly, pulling out his Falcon II Sniper and aimed at one of the White Armor soldiers.
A bright flash of light shot out and the unfortunate soldier was blasted into pieces by the cannon round of the Falcon Sniper, his body parts splattered across the ground.
Seeing that, all the soldiers were frightened and quickly dove for cover, not daring to show their heads.
With a thought, Yue Zhong summoned the Type 2 Green Jiao-Python, opened its huge mouth and then he fired poisonous gas at the entire camp.
"Ah!!! Help!!!"
"Save me!!!"
"I don't want to die!!!"
"Help!!!"
"......"
The poisonous mist of the Green Jiao-Python was even able to turn the rocket launchers and firearms into smoking puddles of liquid. The moment it landed on those soldiers, they began to dissolve, their eyes blinded and their bodies twisting and writhing. Their pitiful screams echoed throughout the night as their flesh dripped off their bodies.
Ao Dou glared at the Type 2 Green Jiao-Python spitting poison non-stop and he hollered with a furious look in his eyes, "Damn beast!!! You dare summon a Type 2 poison-type Mutant Beast!!! White Armor Troops, kill that beast!!!"
6 White Armor elites with the Enhanced Bullet abilities immediately risked their lives to stand out and began firing at the Type 2 Green Jiao-Python.
6 flashes of lights blasted the body of the Type 2 Green Jiao-Python, resulting in 6 large holes as countless nodes of light dispersed from its body.
Having suffered heavy injuries, the Type 2 Green Jiao-Python writhed in agony and shrieked. Although it was just a summoned spirit beast, it can also feel pain when injured.
The Type 2 Green Jiao-Python twisted about before turning into light, disappearing from its position.
The corners of Yue Zhong's lips lifted and a cold look flashed in his eyes as he whisked out his Electromagnetic Gun and fired at the soldiers who had stood out.
A beam of light shot through the White Armor soldier, his body blasted apart.
Before the rest could even react in time, another shot from the gun had already claimed the life of another White Armor soldier.
The remaining 4 soldiers quickly dove behind cover again to avoid being hunted.
Yue Zhong then disappeared from his location, quickly moving towards another spot after killing those 2 White Armor soldiers.
"Fuck!!!" Ao Dou watched helplessly as Yue Zhong took out 2 of his troops which had the Enhanced Bullets ability and cursed furiously.
The skill Enhanced Bullets was a rare Level 3 ability, at the same time, it required the usage of a strong gun. Therefore, hunting strange beasts and zombies might not necessarily be easier for the users to level up as compared to those who used the melee weapons of the God and Devil System. Each and every one of those Enhancers with the Enhanced Bullet ability was treated carefully and in the entire Manchurian Empire forces, there were only 6 of them who had enhanced the skill thrice. Now, they had lost 2, which caused Ao Dou to feel the pang of the loss.
Yue Zhong had killed those 2 Enhanced Bullets experts and was now using his Second Order Stealth to hide in the dark, lying in wait. His eyes were fixed on the granary like a hungry tiger.
While the experts of the Manchu Empire were still there, he would not risk it to blitz into it.
In the dark of the night, the experts of the Manchu Empire did not dare shut their eyes, maintaining their high alert.
All of a sudden, a loud commotion with gunshots happened from a particular corner, attracting the attention of all the experts. By the time the White Armor soldiers got there, there were 5 additional corpses.
When the White Armor soldiers were drawn to that location, at another dark corner, 3 sharp bone spikes suddenly shot out from behind a huge boulder, nailing the soldiers to the ground.
When the elites turned their heads, White Bones had already retracted its bone spikes, leaping behind another huge boulder about 200m away, crawling on the ground like a predator. It disappeared in a few breaths.
Yue Zhong, White Bones and Tenpyo Saka were all adept at assassinating in the night without care for their faces. Every time they acted out, 2 or 3 would be killed and the pressure on the Manchu elites was mounting.
In the end, Ao Dou could not help but deploy the troops to tighten their perimeters, with the experts at the forefront. Yue Zhong and his team was forced to retract their weapons temporarily.
Early the next morning, many of the soldiers were already beyond exhaustion. They had been on the move since early the previous day, engaging the Gold Wolf Riders in a large-scale battle before entangling with the Hans in Tian Mu Town. They couldn't even get a decent night's rest due to Yue Zhong's pressure on them. Under such circumstances, they were already on the brink of collapse.
Xuan Zhen's eyes were bloodshot as he asked Ao Dou who had come forward to report, "How is it?"
Ao Dou's face was solemn, "We had lot 653 men last night, with 1,200 escaping. Right now, we only have about 2,800 soldiers remaining. With the ammunitions storage destroyed, our Howitzers can only fire another single volley."
When Xuan Zhen heard that, his face turned pale and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"My Liege!!!"
"My Liege!!!"
The officials surrounding him quickly stepped forwards to support him.
Xuan Zhen wiped the blood off his mouth and spoke with difficulty, "Retreat!!! Convey my orders, we will withdraw immediately to the capital!!!"
One general was shocked and he immediately asked, "Why? My Liege, Tian Mu Town is at its wits' end. As long as we go at it with all our might, we will be able to take them down!"
Xuan Zhen's eyes flashed with clarity as he spoke each word slowly, "Last night, it was a team of 100 elites that had ambushed us. We might have the numbers now, but we are all tired. We can't even bring forth half of our strength. Even if we did conquer Tian Mu Town, we would have suffered greatly ourselves. That would leave us open for the Gold Wolf Riders and the Mongol King. We need to preserve our strength for now."
As the head of a faction, Xuan Zhen knew how to weigh the pros and cons. His troops were already pushed to their limits and were tired. Right now, it was imperative that they head back to their capital.
Following Xuan Zhen's orders, the Manchu Empire forces began to withdraw. They had arrived in arrogance and held the advantage, besting the Gold Wolf Riders of the Huangjin Clan. Yet now, they were forced to retreat in pathetic circumstances, with less than half their forces.
Seeing the Manchu forces withdrawing, Yue Zhong also heaved a sigh of relief. He had employed a number of tactics throughout the night, killing and assassinating them and had spent much of his Stamina and Spirit as well. He was likewise exhausted. If the Manchu Empire had insisted on attacking Tian Mu Town, he would have no choice but to fight it out with them, without any confidence of victory. Their retreat was the best option for both themselves and Yue Zhong.